Mississippi Divorce Attorney Shares Tips for Avoiding Holiday Drama

If you are divorced or divorcing, you may find that the holiday season has you feeling more stressed than usual. On top of the usual shopping, cooking, planning, participating, and overall busyness, you may have a schedule that does not give you as much time with your children as you would like and a relationship with your former or soon to be former spouse that is filled with conflict. If this describes your current situation in full or in part, you may be hoping that the holidays pass quickly because it is all just too much.

If there were a way to reduce the amount of conflict and tension in your life during the holidays, you would certainly want to know about it. Fortunately, there are a few ways in which divorced or divorcing couples can try to make things a little easier for themselves and their families during this stressful time.

As difficult as it can be to do sometimes, supporting your children in spending time with both you and their other parent can help everyone to have a happier holiday season. Children are keenly aware of how the adults in their lives feel, and if they sense that you disapprove of them spending time celebrating the holidays with their other parent then they will have a hard time enjoying both the time that they spend with them and the time that they spend with you because they feel stuck in the middle. When a parent reassures their children that they want them to enjoy their time with their other parent, the children can focus their attention on enjoying their time with each parent because they don’t feel as though they have to choose one over the other.

In conjunction with supporting and encouraging your children to spend time with their other parent during the holidays, it is important that you establish a holiday parenting schedule early on and then stick to it. Some divorcing or divorced parents may already have a parenting schedule in place as part of the divorce process, and those schedules usually include schedules for holidays and school breaks. If you don’t have a schedule in place yet, make one as soon as you can. Also, make sure that your children know the holiday schedule so that they know what to expect, and when they will be spending time with each of you, and with family and friends.

Taking time to reflect on your feelings may not seem very appealing if you have been experiencing a lot of negative emotions. It is important to do so, whether on your own or with a friend or family member, so that you can acknowledge what you are feeling and work through negative feelings so that they are less likely to drag you down at other times.

Implementing the three strategies mentioned above may help you to reduce the amount of stress and tension in your life this holiday season. If you have a question about your Mississippi divorce during the holiday season or at any other time of year please contact Mississippi Divorce Attorney Matthew S. Poole, at (601) 573-7429 to schedule a free, initial consultation.

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on Tuesday, December 30th, 2014 at 4:01 pm and is filed under Mississippi Divorce Articles.
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